Further Reading

Further Reading

Of course, there is no 5G iPhone yet, and AT&T does not offer 5G mobile service for smartphones. AT&T's 5G E stands for 5G Evolution, but it's actually 4G LTE, albeit with advanced LTE features like 256 QAM, 4x4 MIMO, and three-way carrier aggregation.

As we've previously noted, those technologies are part of the years-old LTE-Advanced standard and are already used by Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint on their 4G networks. AT&T is the only major carrier using a 5G label for its 4G network, a move it defends by saying that "5G Evolution is our first step on the road to 5G."

"5G Evolution is now live in over 400 markets with more to come, and soon our most popular smartphones will start displaying a '5G E' indicator to let you know when 5G Evolution coverage is available," the company says.

Real AT&T 5G coming US-wide next year

AT&T says that its real 5G network will be available nationwide in early 2020, using sub-6GHz spectrum. AT&T's 5G rollout over millimeter-wave spectrum will apparently take longer to go nationwide.

We contacted Apple about the change in the iOS 12.2 beta today and will update this story if we get a response.

AT&T confirmed the change to Ars, saying that "some iPhone and iPad users could start seeing our 5G Evolution indicator on their devices. The indicator simply helps customers know when they are in an area where the 5G Evolution experience may be available.”

AT&T has said that 5G E provides average speeds of about 40Mbps, while its trials of real 5G have been producing speeds of more than a gigabit per second over millimeter-wave frequencies. OpenSignal measurements in late 2018 found that AT&T's average download speed nationwide was 17.8Mbps, while Verizon and T-Mobile each averaged about 21Mbps.

AT&T's use of the 5G E indicator has been widely mocked by customers and its rivals. AT&T has been undeterred, with AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan claiming, "our competitors are frustrated."

I hope that T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon start putting "6G" icons on their phones...

6G? That is old news.

Honestly I would love a lot of advertisements just straight up mocking AT&T. Make 5GE into something that is pathetic. When consumers are saying things like "oh your phone is on 5GE I am sorry is the service really crappy?" then AT&T will stop using it.

I wonder how far AT&T has thought this through. So in 2020 when their real 5G network goes live what are they going to do? Keep using the 5GE which is now known as pathetic not-5G? Use a 5G not 5GE icon but that seems inferior or at best a sideway move? Last time AT&T was able to play 4G and then LTE but 5G doesn't really have any similar double terminology to abuse.

How is this legal? Like, I get that the FCC is basically a captured entity but surely there's someone else who can stop this obviously false marketing

Well 5GE means exactly nothing. Even 5G is pretty loosely defined but 5GE is just gibberish. AT&T network "is" 5GE whatever the hell that is (not 5G). It would require a pretty restrictive and well funded FTC to go after something like that and we haven't had that in decades.

5G benefits carriers by adding more capacity for fixed home wireless. Mobile doesn't really need 5G but it will be hyped to sell phones. Given Apple will be late to the 5G game, is easy for Apple to support this deception trap but I truly thought they had more integrity than this. Apple's trust just dropped a point.

5G benefits carriers by adding more capacity for fixed home wireless. Mobile doesn't really need 5G but it will be hyped to sell phones. Given Apple will be late to the 5G game, is easy for Apple to support this deception trap but I truly thought they had more integrity than this. Apple's trust just dropped a point.

Apple relented to AT&T demands that mark HSPA (3G) with a 4G icon so it seemed unlikely Apple was going to suddenly do a 180 on this one.

e a lot of advertisements just straight up mocking AT&T. Make 5GE into something that is pathetic. When consumers are saying things like "oh your phone is on 5GE I am sorry is the service really crappy?" then AT&T will stop using it.

I wonder how far AT&T has thought this through. So in 2020 when their real 5G network goes live what are they going to do? Keep using the 5GE which is now known as pathetic not-5G? Use a 5G not 5GE icon but that seems inferior or at best a sideway move? Last time AT&T was able to play 4G and then LTE but 5G doesn't really have any similar double terminology to abuse.

Their marketing people are paid big bucks to figure that out. They’ll probably do what Apple learned to do from the car companies— add some meaningless but cool letters. 5GXS, LTEX, X Max, etc. but if you don’t pay them extra they’ll stick an uncool letter on there and you’ll only get 5GLX service or 5ES.

Could we change "misleading" to "blatant lie," please? Because that's what it is. I really hope that lawsuits are incoming. I have no standing, not being an AT&T customer, but they can't be allowed to get away with this (again).

Would it not be better to file a complaint with the FTC for false advertising or some such mislabeling of a product?

I am not even sure it is false advertising. It is sleazy and shows desperation on AT&T's part but 5GE means exactly nothing. It is misleading but like I said the FTC has been chronically underfunded for decades. They don't even have the resources to go after more blatant direct lies.

Nobody cares about millimeter-wave today. That is a pipedream for in a few years. We all know that 5G and 'gigabit' is hype that that is pretty much irrelevant for us short term.

For AT&T to say 40Mbps is 5G is a joke though. That is LTE-A speeds and has been in place for a couple of years.

Let's face it, they can call it what they like. It's what we experience that matters. Generally today's 4G works for me... I can browse, email, watch video etc. Who cares what these companies try and sell or market for 5G today as it's not going to make my life any better.

Nobody cares about millimeter-wave today. That is a pipedream for in a few years. We all know that 5G and 'gigabit' is hype that that is pretty much irrelevant for us short term.

5G and mm-wave are valid for fixed home wireless solutions but is hype for mobile. 5G adds significant capacity to allow carriers to realistically compete with home broadband providers. Verizon 5G is $50 unlimited for VZ customers and will provide real competition for those who have few if any home broadband options. But for phones/mobile, there is no need for 5G for a very long time.

AT&T confirmed the change to Ars, saying that "some iPhone and iPad users could start seeing our 5G Evolution indicator on their devices. The indicator simply helps customers know when they are in an area where the 5G Evolution experience may be available.”

In which "the 5G Evolution experience" means "LTE just like it's always been".

I can see why Apple got on board though. Yes, it's a lie, but they do not want users of Android saying "I've got 5G, but your iPhone does not." They can put the blame on AT&T so it's an AT&T lie that serves their purposes rather than an Apple lie.

Nobody cares about millimeter-wave today. That is a pipedream for in a few years. We all know that 5G and 'gigabit' is hype that that is pretty much irrelevant for us short term.

5G and mm-wave are valid for fixed home wireless solutions but is hype for mobile. 5G adds significant capacity to allow carriers to realistically compete with home broadband providers. Verizon 5G is $50 unlimited for VZ customers and will provide real competition for those who have few if any home broadband options. But for phones/mobile, there is no need for 5G for a very long time.

5G on sub 6 GHz for mobile is still useful. It will allow more tower aggregate bandwidth which means higher caps and/or less throttling. it is more evolutionary than revolutionary but more bandwidth is always a good thing. I am not saying rush out and buy a 5G phone though.

My iPhone X is just slightly too old for this deception. That said, I can still get 40 Mbps down without a fake logo consistently so I have no idea what AT&T is talking about here. I cannot wait for uninformed Android and iPhone X(R|S) users making fun of me for not having the stupid 5GE logo.

My iPhone X is just slightly too old for this deception. That said, I can still get 40 Mbps down without a fake logo consistently so I have no idea what AT&T is talking about here. I cannot wait for uninformed Android and iPhone X(R|S) users making fun of me for not having the stupid 5GE logo.

Too old? It doesn't require new hardware. AT&T is just calling LTE "5GE". Your iphone x will get the new icon when it upgrades to 12.2. Iphones as old as the iphone 6 will be getting the new icon eventually.

Nobody cares about millimeter-wave today. That is a pipedream for in a few years. We all know that 5G and 'gigabit' is hype that that is pretty much irrelevant for us short term.

5G and mm-wave are valid for fixed home wireless solutions but is hype for mobile. 5G adds significant capacity to allow carriers to realistically compete with home broadband providers. Verizon 5G is $50 unlimited for VZ customers and will provide real competition for those who have few if any home broadband options. But for phones/mobile, there is no need for 5G for a very long time.

5G on sub 6 GHz for mobile is still useful. It will allow more tower aggregate bandwidth which means higher caps and/or less throttling. it is more evolutionary than revolutionary but more bandwidth is always a good thing. I am not saying rush out and buy a 5G phone though.

Yeah agree. And for those who do get a 5G phone, it will take load off 4G. 5G for mobile will happen and can take some load off 4G but most don't really need 5G and may struggle to get signal indoors depending on frequency. For the most part 5G for mobile is hype but if carriers build 5G networks for home wireless (truly legit use case), mobile could still take advantage of it as a side benefit (and take load off 4G).

I got this "upgraded" icon when I took the Pie upgrade on my S9+ a few days ago; yes, it's annoying marketing bullshit, but it doesn't bother me because I know what it's about. What really irks me is that it is lying to those who don't know any better.

Nobody cares about millimeter-wave today. That is a pipedream for in a few years. We all know that 5G and 'gigabit' is hype that that is pretty much irrelevant for us short term.

5G and mm-wave are valid for fixed home wireless solutions but is hype for mobile. 5G adds significant capacity to allow carriers to realistically compete with home broadband providers. Verizon 5G is $50 unlimited for VZ customers and will provide real competition for those who have few if any home broadband options. But for phones/mobile, there is no need for 5G for a very long time.

There's utility for it, but you're not gonna see it deployed everywhere the way LTE was. Sports stadiums are an example of where it would make sense to wire the place up for millimeter-wave 5G. I could also see finding yourself connected to millimeter-wave 5G a significant amount of the time in a limited number of particularly dense places (like Manhattan), but I'm not sure if carriers would specifically roll it out for mobile users even in those particularly dense places or if it'd just be a knock-on effect from the density of access points they'll have to deploy anyhow to provide millimeter-wave 5G home broadband service in a place like Manhattan.

How is this legal? Like, I get that the FCC is basically a captured entity but surely there's someone else who can stop this obviously false marketing

Well 5GE means exactly nothing. Even 5G is pretty loosely defined but 5GE is just gibberish. AT&T network "is" 5GE whatever the hell that is (not 5G). It would require a pretty restrictive and well funded FTC to go after something like that and we haven't had that in decades.